Death toll from Pakistan attacks climbs to 73

Also on Friday, 14 people were killed in a suicide vehicle bombing near the office of the provincial police head in the town Quetta in the southwestern part of the country.

A spokesman from a Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Alami sent a message to AFP on Saturday claiming responsibility for the Parachinar attack.

The United States has condemned terrorist attacks in Quetta and Parachinar, in which scores of innocent civilians and police officers lost their lives.

The first explosion was in the city's busiest Turi market, where residents were shopping for the upcoming Muslim eid festival, Wazir said, adding that the other blast occurred at the same location as rescue operations were in progress. More than 20 people among the wounded are in critical condition.The emergency services shifted all the injured to Agency Headquarters hospital Parachinar.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Local elders say police opened fire at protesters, but authorities insist that officers fired into the air.

Pentagon also added "Although Pakistani military operations have disrupted some militant sanctuaries, certain extremist groups-such as the Taliban and the Haqqani Network-were able to relocate and continue to operate in and from Pakistan".

Sunni-majority Pakistan also has a sizeable Shiah minority and has sought to avoid being dragged into sectarian strife that is rife in Syria and also the recent rift between Qatar and Saudia Arabia-led Sunni states that have cut off ties with Doha in part over its relations with Iran.

He said the militants were making bombs that likely would have been used to target holiday festivities.

The disrupted plan involved Afghan intelligence trying to work with the Pakistan Taliban, allies of Al Qaeda, in order to find a trump card in a baroque regional power game that is likely to intensify after the American withdrawal, the officials said.

Anwarul Haq Kakar, a spokesman for the provincial government, blamed neighboring India for the blast but offered no evidence to back up the allegation.

He said the nature of the blast is yet to be determined.

Officials said the explosion was loud enough to be heard from a distance and shattered windows of nearby buildings.

TV footage showed several badly damaged cars and a road littered with broken glass. Four people were injured including three Frontier Corps personnel and a passer-by.

More casualties were reported in Parachinar where 50 people were killed.